Tyres burn in homes spat

Backyarders in Makhaza have been scattering rubbish and burning tyres on busy Lansdowne road every evening for the past week in protest over their exclusion from a housing project in the area.

Hundreds of backyarders from Sections 41 and 42 are outraged over residents in an informal settlement in K-Section being allocated houses in the proposed Nonqubela Housing project to take place on land identified in K-Section.

The backyarders say the 163 houses to be built in the Nonqubela project are supposed to be for them, but the previous ward councillor, Tobile Ludidi, sold them out by allocating the houses to residents of the K-Section informal settlement.

The continuing protest was sparked on Monday last week when people squatting on vacant land in K-Section were moved off the site in order to make way for the construction of the RDP houses. Backyarders said there wouldn’t be a project until they were put back on the Nonqubela housing list.

Protesting backyarder Masibulele Mpompo said he had been living in a shack behind his parents’ house for 19 years and there were three other shacks in the yard.

“We can’t live like this. The city needs to build us houses. How can they take people from other areas and build them houses in our area. What about us?” said Mpompo.

The city called a halt to the housing project after protests began last week.

Angry backyarders, who did not want to be named, said they would prevent any housing project taking place until the proposed houses were allocated to them.

The backyarders claim when they first heard the proposed houses would be allocated to other people in 2009 they reported the matter to housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela, who promised to investigate.

“Till now, we don’t know what he found. They can’t take people from other areas and give them houses while we are waiting.”

But on Saturday, the K-Section informal settlers now in line to benefit from the housing project, launched their own protest. They blamed present ward councillor Danile Khatshwa for siding with the backyarders, as he also lived in a backyard.

About 150 K-Section residents have been taking to the streets surrounding K-Section since Saturday, demanding Khatshwa provides them with answers.

A housing beneficiary from K-Section, Mzothando Skwasha, 45, said everyone was given a chance to register for a house and backyarders were “busy with politics”.

“People are living with fear because of them. We don’t know what they’re up to. Every night they have meetings and throw rubbish in the streets,” said Skwasha.

K-Section community leader Thamsanqa Kondile said Khatshwa was siding with the backyarders.

“Ever since the backyarders started to protest he’s been behind them. He doesn’t care for us.”

He said it was Khatshwa’s fault that construction at the housing project had been halted when the backyarders began their protests last week.

“We want to know why he is choosing sides. We will protest until the project is back on track,” said Kondile.

Khatshwa said he was aware of both protests. He said he met with the backyarders on Monday last week and the only reason he hadn’t yet met with the K-Section informal settlers was because they threatened to beat him up.

He said he needed to organise police protection before he could attend their meetings.

Cape Town human settlements mayoral committee member Ernest Sonnenberg said the aim of the Nonqubela Housing Project was to “eradicate the informal settlements in K-Section”.

Sonnenberg said due to the large number of people in the informal settlement, not all of them could be accommodated in the housing project and the city, together with the province, was “in consultation” with community leadership to resolve the issue.

– West Cape News

Mamma Winnie to the rescue

ANC stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela will lead a government task team to advise on the eradication of informal settlements, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said on Thursday.

Sexwale said the formal announcement and the team that would help her would be made known next week.

Madikizela-Mandela and Sexwale visited a women’s building project in Brandfort in the Free State as part of Women’s Month.

It was expected the team would look at all aspects of housing development, including sanitation.

“She will help us develop informal settlements because we cannot solve it without the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela motherly heart,” Sexwale told hundreds of people gathered in Brandfort.

Earlier, he said the country had 2 450 informal settlements and only a woman with a “motherly heart” could help change “prisons” into homes.

“Many houses are still prisons,” he said.

Madikizela-Mandela was kept under house arrest by the apartheid government in Brandfort in the late 1970s.

The provincial government intended turning that house into a museum.

102-year-old gets own home

Before addressing the gathering, Sexwale, Madikizela-Mandela and Free State premier Ace Magashule were driven around in the township from building site to building site, where they helped and talked to the new house owners.

Dressed in blue overalls and purple hard hats, the minister and premier led a government delegation through the Majwemasweu settlement and even tried painting an outside wall.

The government was building 100 houses in Brandfort, of which women were helping to build 55.

Magashule handed title deeds to various women on whose land a new house was being erected.

Sexwale said Madikizela-Mandela’s presence in Brandfort would give people hope that “someday you will be out of a shack”.

The minister said one of those that received her own house was a 102-year-old woman.

“What a shame to be 102 years old and not have a house,” he told the crowd later.

At one of the building sites visited, Selina Motsatsa, 55, was excited to see Sexwale and Madikizela-Mandela visiting a homeowner across the street.

“So bly, dit voel lekker [So glad, it feels nice]."

'Everybody is glad'

Two other women with her, Lidia Jackson, 53, and Amelia Moholo, 56, were also in high spirits.

“Brandfort is now big with Madikizela-Mandela. Here the houses are beautiful,” said a smiling Moholo.

All three women had a young child on their backs under a blanket, with one of their grandchildren sitting at their feet.

“Everybody is glad,” said Jackson, waving at the small crowd of officials squeezed into the yard across the road.

The women’s building project was an annual initiative to commemorate the 1956 women's march to the Union Building against apartheid pass laws. (News24)

Screams heard as house burns

Neighbours who desperately tried to battle the flames as a house at the Sweet Home Farm settlement burnt down could hear children inside scream and bang on the house’s door.

But their efforts early yesterday morning came to nothing, as resident Gadija Blankenberg, 46, her two young children of 10 and 12 and her seven-year-old grandson burnt to death in their home.

Neighbours said they had noticed the fire at Blankenberg’s home at about 2am yesterday and had called other neighbours to help fight the blaze.

While fighting the flames, neighbours heard the screams of Blankenberg’s two children, Riedewaan and Aysha Blankenberg and her grandson, Mansoer Blankenberg.

“We heard the children screaming and banging against the door but we couldn’t help them because the door was locked with a chain and lock,” said Lindelwa Kofi, Blankenberg’s neighbour.

Police have opened an inquest docket to investigate the incident. - Cape Argus

‘More can be done to prevent shack fires’

Cape Town's Fire and Rescue Service on Tuesday said more could be done to prevent shack fires in the Western Cape.

This came after four people, including two children, died in a shack fire in Philippi on Monday.

This brings the shack fire death toll to 54 this year.

Cape Town Fire and Rescue Service's Theo Layne said various campaigns have been put in place to educate people about the dangers of shack fires.

“We go out to the various departments, schools, old age homes and hospitals,” he said.

- Eyewitnessnews

More children die in shack fires

A second shack fire in as little as two weeks claimed the lives of three people on Saturday in the Masiphumelele informal settlement near Kommetjie.

Both parents and a child died in the weekend blaze, bringing to five the number of children who have died in shack fires in the past two weeks.

Last week another deadly fire claimed the lives of four siblings in Makhaza, Khayelitsha. Sesona, 2, Nthabiseng, 7, Masithembe, 11, and Tebego Matewu, 15, died in the blaze that engulfed their home. Only the children’s mother, Bulelwa Matewu, survived the deadly fire.

The children’s father, Maxwell Matewa, who was not home when the fire broke out, found it very difficult to utter a word.

“I’m in shock and do not have any words to explain how I feel. I have lost four of my children. I loved all of them very much,” he said.

Two of Matewa’s children were not at home during the fire.

WO November Filander, a provincial police spokesperson, said police were still unsure what caused the fire at the house.

According to the police, the latest fire in the Masiphumelele informal settlement broke out on Saturday evening. The family, who were trapped by the fire inside their shack, died.

Col André Traut said: “The cause of the fire is yet to be established.”

About three months ago another fire in the same informal settlement also took the lives of two people and left thousands of people homeless.

It was believed that particular fire was started by an electrical fault in a brick house near the shacks.

Kylie Hatton, a spokesperson for the City of Cape Town, said they had provided the displaced families with building material, blankets and food.

“We have also done a lot of educational programmes around the dangers of candles and paraffin.”

Earlier this year, a two-year-old child died in a shack fire in Paarl.

- newage

R2K and AEC Western Cape Statement

The residents of Newfields Village are still waiting for Minister of Human Settlements Tokyo Sexwale to respond to their demand for access to an audit of the low-cost housing provided by the controversial Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC).

The Auditor-General conducted a preliminary investigation of houses provided by the CTCHC in November 2010, following years of residents’ complaints of the shoddy quality of houses and mismanagement of funds.

On 24 May 2011, residents of Newfields Village approached the National Department of Human Settlements to make a formal demand for access to the audit in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA). When the Minister failed to respond within the 30-day period stipulated in the Act, our attorney submitted a Notice of Internal to Minister Sexwale for a response within an additional 30 days.

The legal deadline for Minister Sexwale is Monday 15 August 2011.

(Read the background to R2K's demand for information from the Department of Human Settlements here and here. This report in the Sowetan details the auditor-general's inspection of CTCHC houses.)

The residents of Newfields Village have struggled for over ten years to fulfill their right to adequate housing – a struggle that has been hampered at every corner by lack of transparency and lack of access to information from officials at every level of government.

At the same time that the community of Newfields Village is mobilising against the Protection of Information Bill in Parliament, the community’s struggle for adequate housing is equally mired by the existing climate of secrecy in South Africa.

As communities of the Right2Know campaign, we call on Minister Sexwale to release this report now!

For comment please contact:
Gary Hartzenberg (Newfields Village CRC Chairperson): 072 392 5859
Nkwame Cedile (R2K Western Cape coordinator): 078 227 6008

Act on toilet saga instead of making flushing sounds

The headline "Tokyo out for blood over toilets for sale" on July 13 required action on the part of Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale.

One still has to see whether his angry reaction to the situation is just ANC embarrassment, or party commitment to eradicate corruption.

Why the sudden burst of outrage?

Corruption is such a well-known feature of this government's projects that enables the well-connected and powerful to cream off their share.

Sexwale must now prove his commitment to fighting corruption by ensuring that the guilty are dealt with severely, not "redeployed".

It is to this country's great financial loss that there is massive hypocrisy within the ruling party, because it does not deal decisively with its crooked but loyal cadres.

The people in the lower rung simply watch and copy those at the higher level.

They observe how their seniors get away with perhaps more subtle corruption practices.

Even worse, they witness how the ruling party's funds benefit from "commissions" from those who are awarded large state contracts.

While this practice continues, the ANC and the government will never win against the entrenched and spreading corruption within its ranks.

Note how the government covered up the arms deal scandal and how any investigation into a prominent ANC cadre is drawn out and is usually swept under the carpet.

The latest trend in the ANC is for leading figures to make politically appropriate sounds about fighting corruption.

If Sexwale wants to convince us of his deep commitment to fight corruption, let him now campaign openly to stop the practice of redeploying corrupt persons into other jobs.

What about Sexwale supporting an unfettered inquiry (without intimidation) into the arms deal scandal and that of the SAPS headquarters deal, for a start?

Then we may begin to believe there is still some integrity in the cabinet, and that they are not just a bunch of ja broers, as is observed in the arms deal scandal.

- timeslive

Calls for serviced land close to city to house poor

Shack dwellers and housing NGOs have dismissed sentiments expressed by Human Settlement MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela that affordable housing would provide a lasting solution for the province's housing needs.

Madikizela made the statement during an Affordable Housing Development, Human Settlement and Finance Summit in Durban recently.

DAG CEO Kailash Bhana said residents earning between R3 500 and R12 500 a month could be accommodated through the formal housing market by approaching banks to facilitate loans.

"This strategy will free up government to focus on the poor who are unable to access housing without state assistance in the form of subsidies," argued Bhana.

She noted that single residential accommodation for urban living was more expensive to provide than row housing, semi-detached housing or three-storey walk-ups.

"The designs do not make efficient use of the land available and the high cost of extending infrastructure, roads and services to areas located on the periphery should also be taken into account," she said.

She added that the location of many of Cape Town's 222 informal settlements offered residents access to job opportunities, transport, health and education facilities

Bhana called on Madikizela to release "well-located public and private serviced land for housing families earning below R3 500".

"These parcels of land could be used for mixed income and mixed-use development.

"Well located infill land in established communities can be utilised to provide mediumdensity, public rental accommodation and also limit the sprawl of cities, contributing to greater sustainability," she said.

One of the leaders at Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers, Tilla Groepe, was cynical of Madikizela's statement and alleged that corruption was the root cause of Cape Town's housing problems.

Khaya Xintolo of the Mandela Park Backyarders' Association said affordable housing would not provide a lasting solution to Cape Town's housing problems because the majority of the population earned below R3 500.

Meanwhile, Madikizela's spokesman Bruce Oom maintained that the department would continue providing subsidised housing to the poor, but that it was looking for a solution to the housing needs of residents who could pay for rates and services.

- Cape Times

One injured in Grabouw protest

A woman was injured during service delivery protests in Grabouw in the Western Cape on Wednesday, police said.

A rubber bullet hit the 19-year-old woman in the eye, Warrant Officer November Filander said.

“Rubber bullets were fired at the crowd after they started throwing stones at police,” said Filander.

He said the group dispersed at midday after community leaders spoke to them.

No police officers were injured, but police vehicles were damaged. A case of illegal gathering and public violence was opened.

No arrests had been made. -Sapa

The squat with a view

A group of vagrants are enjoying one of South Africa"s best views after invading a R12-million mansion in Camps Bay in Cape Town.

And they"re not alone. At least a dozen other empty multimillion-rand homes have been taken over by squatters in the area.

The six-bedroom mansion, in Victoria Road, has been stripped of windows and fittings, and the walls have been blackened by the squatters" fires.

The homeless moved in while the owners of the property and the city battled over plans to demolish the house.

"Resident" Smiley Bonfus, 40, a homeless man from Burundi, this week said he had recently summoned the police to chase off a fellow squatter - who had built fires so large that the fire brigade had to be called in.

"You cannot just have any guy staying in this nice place," Bonfus said.

Byron Herbert, owner of Herbert Properties in Camps Bay, said the price of similar properties in the neighbourhood ranged from R10- to R35-million.

Gavin Oliver, head of Cape Town"s Problem Buildings Unit, said other luxury homes taken over by squatters included two in up-market Bishopscourt, one overlooking Fourth Beach in Clifton, and a total of four in Gordon"s Bay and Somerset West.

Oliver said the unit had "cleaned up" almost 40 buildings declared health hazards or drug dens since November, and had evicted illegal squatters from 93 flats in the Senator Park block last month.

He said the Victoria Road house "is a health risk and is rodent infested", and the city would issue its owners with a notice demanding that they "clean up this mess" or face having the property attached.

Herbert said that, had the house been in good condition, Bonfus would have been expected to pay up to R5000 a day for the flat he uses in the house.

Instead, baths, geysers and the plumbing have been stolen, the floors covered with sand and rubbish, and the walls adorned with religious-themed graffiti.

Herbert said: "That property has been an ongoing battle between the ratepayers" association, the owners, SAPS and the city council."

The house was bought five years ago for R8.3-million by a group of partners including Johannesburg businessman Khalil Sayed.

The businessman has blamed the problems on the authorities "for needlessly holding up our (development) plans".

He wants to demolish the house and build luxury apartments in its place.

He said the house was invaded after security systems "fell into neglect" - and admitted the neighbours had complained.

"The property is an eyesore, so I sympathise with ratepayers there - but really, this is the city"s doing," he said.

"We are prepared to assist the city in getting these people out. We have contracted South Africa"s top architect for our development and we want to get going with it."

However, Oliver said the owners were trying to make their problems the city"s: "It"s entirely the owner"s responsibility."

Bonfus, who works occasionally as a car guard, lives in the mansion"s flat with his wife, Julie de Leeuw, 36, and her 18-year-old son.

He said: "No one was here so I am helping myself. If I want the toilet I go in the bushes by the beach. I like the view."

Bonfus said, however, he would move out if he was instructed to do so. "I know this is not my place."

By contrast, the city has had to go to court to evict squatters who have taken over an eight-bedroom home in Maclear Road, Bishopscourt.

Oliver said the house had become "a drug den, with suspected stolen vehicles on site", and that residents had 60 days to vacate the premises.

A generator could be heard running at the house this week as squatters peered at Oliver"s team. They refused to open the gate.

Less than 1km down the road, vagrants have moved into an unfinished suburban home which was abandoned when developers ran out of money.

House rules like "pour water after using toilet (sic)" are scribbled on the walls, while one bedroom contains a TV and DVD player, a hi-fi and an illegal electricity connection.

Oliver said: "Vagrants first visit a few times to make sure a house is not occupied. Then everything of value is stolen and then people move in. Owners must be responsible for maintaining their own properties."

- timeslive

Rain, cold weather hit Khayelitsha

Several homes in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, have been flooded - affecting about 100 people - during the heavy rain and cold weather conditions since Wednesday, the city said on Friday.

“The city's disaster response teams assisted affected residents by providing warm meals, plastic sheets, and blankets on Wednesday night,” spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said in a statement.

“We will conduct damage assessments throughout the day to assist people in distress,” he said.

The Cape Peninsula was experiencing very cold weather with gale-force and gusting winds.

“There has been rough sea conditions along the Cape coastline, and heavy rains.

“Snowfalls on the high ground of the Western and Northern Cape resulted in temperatures dropping to below 10 degrees Celsius,” Solomons-Johannes said.

And in the Eastern Cape, the Port Elizabeth weather office's Hugh van Niekerk said the easterly parts of the city had received most of the significant rainfall with mainly Uitenhage and the Coega Industrial Development Zone affected.

“Disaster management officials were scouting various parts of the Nelson Mandela Bay metro to identify and relieve families in need,” he said. - Sapa

Police disperse residents protesting over electricity

POLICE fired rubber bullets to disperse a group of protesters in Delft yesterday who were demanding electricity for their new subsidised houses in the N2 Gateway.

About 50 residents burnt tyres in front of the Housing Development Agency’s (HDA) office before smashing its windows. The residents said they had been waiting for electricity since December, when they first moved into their houses.

“This is the eighth month that we’ve been without lights,” resident Kenneth Nielsen said, adding that he spent R600 of his pension on rent, candles and cooking gas.

“What then do I get from my pension? How am I supposed to live?”

Another resident, Thabiso Mapalane, said without electricity their area was not safe.

A member of the SAPS fires rubber bullets at the fleeing crowd of the N2 Gateway residents in Delft. Photo: Brenton Geach

INLSA

There had been six murders in the past three weeks, he said.

“This area is close to a dark forest which presents criminals with a hiding place.”

Mapalane added that some houses had been burgled while a house was set alight when a burning candle had fallen over.

N2 Gateway Area Committee leader Brian Macaba said when they had moved into the new houses, HDA promised them that the area would have electricity by January.

“However, Eskom didn’t do the work and the developers later promised us that they would electrify the area in April,” Macaba said.

The residents said that, after nothing had happened in April, they were told they would have electricity in June, but that had not transpired.

On June 20, Eskom wrote to the community to say that the electrification process would start at the beginning of this month.

According to a copy of the letter, Eskom assured the community that it was committed to delivering electricity to the area.

“As per our discussions (at the) Friday meeting (which was) held on site, Eskom wants to apologise for the delay in electrifying the area.

“Please be advised that Eskom promises to be on site beginning of August 2011 to start electrification,” the letter read in part.

Eskom spokeswoman Jolene Henn denied that Eskom was behind schedule.

She said she did not know why the residents had taken to the streets without informing them.

“Eskom is currently on site as per the communicated construction date, which is August 1, 2011,” Henn said.

She added that the site was handed over to the Eskom contractor on Monday in the presence of community leaders as well as the councillor’s representatives for the Delft Symphony Precincts 1 and 2.

Residents, however, have denied this and say no work has been done by Eskom or its contractor this week.

- Cape Times

Malema backs out of R3,5m farm deal

ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema has allegedly backed out on a deal to buy a R3,5m farm near Polokwane, in Limpopo, the Beeld newspaper reported on Saturday.

“I believe it is because of all the rumours (of his secret trust),” Dries Kotzé, the owner of the farm reportedly told the newspaper.

He said that Malema had cancelled the purchase earlier this week.

Malema had already allegedly paid a R800 000 deposit on the 139 hectare farm.

Kotzé said Malema made an offer for R1.5 million for the farm four months ago, but he had refused to sell below his asking price.

Kotzé's neighbours said the transaction was still happening and that the news of Malema backing out was only a way to try and deceive the media.

ANCYL spokesman Floyd Shivambu when contacted by Sapa refused to comment on the alleged sale.

“Do not bother us with stuff like this, we will only comment on political issues,” he said.

The City Press, last weekend published a report on a secret family trust, that Malema had allegedly used to finance his lavish lifestyle.

According to the newspaper, the Ratanang Family Trust was registered at the Office of the Master of the High Court in Pretoria in 2008, just weeks after Malema was first elected president of the youth league.

Opposition political parties have also called on the SA Revenue Services to investigate his wealth, claiming it is not compatible with his reported R25,000 a month salary.

- Sapa

Swaziland loan a 'handout from a sugar daddy'

President Jacob Zuma and the African National Congress (ANC) appear to be conflicted over personal and business ties in relation to the controversial R2.4-billion bailout offered to Swaziland's King Mswati III, which was announced this week.

It is well known that the ANC's investment vehicle, Chancellor House Holdings (CHH), holds a 75% stake in the Maloma Colliery, an anthracite mine in the poverty-stricken country.

A Chancellor House-led consortium paid a reported R25-million for the stake, which was purchased from Xstrata in May 2010.

Now the Mail & Guardian has established that:

The other 25% is held not by the Swazi government but by Tibiyo Taka Ngwane, the billion-rand trust that is effectively controlled personally by Mswati.

Sibusisiwe Mngomezulu, described in correspondence about the Maloma deal as the "finance and business development executive" of Chancellor House, is the brother of one of Mswati's wives, Sibonelo Mngomezulu. Sibusisiwe previously also served as a director of Tibiyo Insurance Brokers, a subsidiary of the trust.

Company registration records show that Sibusisiwe is a director of two other South African companies with Bongani Mahlalela, the ANC's chief financial officer.

Internal documents on the purchase of the Maloma mine, which also involved Nehawu Investment Company, show that Chancellor House was the entity with influence in the kingdom. A draft agreement records that Chancellor House will ensure Tibiyo Taka Ngwane is "agreeable to the propositions put to them". Key to the success of the mine is the expansion of mining rights to adjacent areas, which will extend its life.

According to the document, Chancellor House is also committed "to identify other assets in Swaziland, in particular, to use best efforts in ensuring that once the St Phillips asset is acquired it shall be contributed into the Consortium in order to offset CHH's part of the debt". St Phillips is understood to be another mining property.

The mining royalty, set at 3%, flows to Tibiyo Taka Ngwane.

The Maloma transaction had a number of odd features. The mine, which supplies anthracite to Xstrata's ferrochrome operations and Richards Bay Minerals, appeared to be making losses. The seller, Xstrata, disclosed Maloma had an assessed tax loss of R198-million and a "non-interest-bearing loan account liability" to Xstrata of R192-million.

Despite this, it appears the buyers were talking of raising loans that wildly overvalued the purchase. One document states: "The parties … have to raise the amount of R500-million or such other amount as represents the fair enterprise value of the target company."

ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa has also served as a special adviser to the Swazi government on the country's Millennium Project. This is highly controversial, given that its centrepiece was the construction of the Sikhupe International Airport, which critics say Swaziland does not need and cannot afford.

As for Zuma's Swazi connections, in 2002 he was officially engaged to Sebentile Dlamini, one of Mswati's nieces. He paid a part of the lobola, the negotiations for which were handled by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize, who was the provincial health minister at the time. Zuma was reportedly introduced to Sebentile by his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik.

Sebentile is a daughter of the late Swazi prince Phiwokwakhe Dlamini, who served as both health and labour minister and sat on Mswati's panel of advisers. He died in January 2004 in Durban.

Sour engagement

The engagement seems to have been soured politically by Shaik's arrest and trial, although the Swazi press reported that Sebentile was distressed when Zuma married again in 2008 and 2010 despite her long engagement to him.

Zuma was in and out of Swaziland in the 1980s, when the country was a key frontline state. His mentor, Moses Mabhida, was close to Mswati's father, Sobhuza. And, during his rape trial senior Swazi prince Mfanasibili Dlamini spoke out publicly in support of him.

More broadly, there are close ties between the Swazi royal family and the Zulu monarchy, to which Zuma is now close. Princess Mantfombi, Mswati's sister, is Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini's first wife.

The negotiations around South Africa’s loan to Swaziland have been conducted in great secrecy, with direct talks between Zuma and Mswati playing a central role.

Presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj has repeatedly referred questions about the meeting to South Africa's international relations department, which, in turn, has referred reporters to Maharaj.

The department of treasury and finance failed to respond to specific questions about whether Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was involved in or consulted about such meetings. Mswati announced on Tuesday that the loan had been concluded, clearly catching Gordhan by surprise. He was forced to convene a press conference to explain the terms of the R2.4-billion package.

Strikingly, there are limited requirements for democratic reforms attached to the loan, something Swazi activists have been demanding because Mswati is effectively still an absolute monarch.

Swaziland Solidarity Network spokesperson Lucky Lukhele slammed Zuma, saying: "He has decided to postpone the democratisation of Swaziland. This is not a bailout, it is a handout from a sugar daddy."

And you, Roux?

Controversial property tycoon Roux Shabangu, who first claimed and then denied a relationship with Zuma, emerged as a significant player in Swaziland in 2009. In October that year the Swazi Observer, which is owned by Tibyo Taka Ngwane, announced that Shabangu's consortium would invest R1.5-billion in a shopping and office park development in the capital, Mbabane.

It later emerged that Shabangu would be given three pieces of state-owned land for the development; in exchange he would construct a new office building for the municipality.

Shabangu also emerged that year as the buyer of 50% of Swaziland's dormant Dvokolwako diamond mine, in which Mswati's trust holds the remaining 50%. This set off a flurry of efforts by Swaziland to secure the Kimberley Process certification for Swazi diamonds, which was granted earlier this year.

Meanwhile, this week Maharaj moved to distance Zuma from Shabangu in the wake of damning reports by the public protector on the police leases that Shabangu's company concluded with the public works department.

In a statement Maharaj referred to the "urban legend" that Zuma removed Geoff Doidge as public works minister in October last year and appointed Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde to replace him "for the sole purpose of getting her to approve the leases, which Doidge had apparently dodged".

"This is all based on a rumour that Roux Shabangu, owner of the buildings, is supposedly a friend of the president. The rumours are without foundation ... The president barely knows Shabangu and any statement to the contrary is false.

"There is also no link between the release of Doidge and the appointment of Mahlangu-Nkabinde to the public works portfolio."

Meanwhile, Shabangu also has an indirect connection with Phosa, who is a director of the controversial LagoonBay Lifestyle Estate project near George. On his website Shabangu claims the LagoonBay development as one of his projects.

While the ANC had controlled the Western Cape, the provincial government did its best to push through approval for the project, despite significant environmental concerns and opposition.

The decision was reversed when the Democratic Alliance took over and the project is still in limbo.

From Mail & Guardian

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